Warsaw marks 70 years since uprising in ghetto

Simha Rotem, one of the last living Warsaw Ghetto insurgents,speaks in front of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial, during the revolt anniversary ceremonies in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 19, 2013. Sirens wailed and church bells tolled in Warsaw as largely Roman Catholic Poland paid homage Friday to the Jewish fighters who rose up 70 years ago against German Nazi forces in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
— AP

Simha Rotem, one of the last living Warsaw Ghetto insurgents,speaks in front of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial, during the revolt anniversary ceremonies in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 19, 2013. Sirens wailed and church bells tolled in Warsaw as largely Roman Catholic Poland paid homage Friday to the Jewish fighters who rose up 70 years ago against German Nazi forces in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
/ AP

Workers of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews watch from their building ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)— AP

Workers of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews watch from their building ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
/ AP

A man holding a daffodil takes a photo of a wall painting presenting Marek Edelman, the only Warsaw Ghetto 1943 Uprising commander who survived World War II, also holding a daffodil, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the revolt, in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, April 18, 2013. Daffodils, which bloom in April, the month the uprising began, are a symbol of remembrance and hope, and were distributed to visitors viewing the graffiti. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)— AP

A man holding a daffodil takes a photo of a wall painting presenting Marek Edelman, the only Warsaw Ghetto 1943 Uprising commander who survived World War II, also holding a daffodil, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the revolt, in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, April 18, 2013. Daffodils, which bloom in April, the month the uprising began, are a symbol of remembrance and hope, and were distributed to visitors viewing the graffiti. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
/ AP

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski , left, decorates Simha Rotem, one of the last living Warsaw Ghetto insurgents, with the Grand Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland in front of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial, during the revolt anniversary ceremonies in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 19, 2013. Sirens wailed and church bells tolled in Warsaw as largely Roman Catholic Poland paid homage Friday to the Jewish fighters who rose up 70 years ago against German Nazi forces in the Warsaw — AP

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski , left, decorates Simha Rotem, one of the last living Warsaw Ghetto insurgents, with the Grand Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland in front of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial, during the revolt anniversary ceremonies in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 19, 2013. Sirens wailed and church bells tolled in Warsaw as largely Roman Catholic Poland paid homage Friday to the Jewish fighters who rose up 70 years ago against German Nazi forces in the Warsaw
/ AP

Simha Rotem, center, one of the last living Warsaw Ghetto insurgents, attends a wreathlaying ceremony in front of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial, during the revolt anniversary commemorations in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 19, 2013. Sirens wailed and church bells tolled in Warsaw as largely Roman Catholic Poland paid homage Friday to the Jewish fighters who rose up 70 years ago against German Nazi forces in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)— AP

Simha Rotem, center, one of the last living Warsaw Ghetto insurgents, attends a wreathlaying ceremony in front of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial, during the revolt anniversary commemorations in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 19, 2013. Sirens wailed and church bells tolled in Warsaw as largely Roman Catholic Poland paid homage Friday to the Jewish fighters who rose up 70 years ago against German Nazi forces in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
/ AP

A woman holding a child stands in front of a wall painting representing Marek Edelman, the only Warsaw Ghetto 1943 Uprising commander who survived World War II, holding a daffodil, a symbol of remembrance, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the revolt, in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, April 18, 2013. Daffodils, which bloom in April, the month the uprising began, are a symbol of remembrance and hope, and were distributed to visitors viewing the graffiti. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)— AP

A woman holding a child stands in front of a wall painting representing Marek Edelman, the only Warsaw Ghetto 1943 Uprising commander who survived World War II, holding a daffodil, a symbol of remembrance, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the revolt, in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, April 18, 2013. Daffodils, which bloom in April, the month the uprising began, are a symbol of remembrance and hope, and were distributed to visitors viewing the graffiti. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
/ AP

Simha Rotem, left, one of the last living Warsaw Ghetto insurgents, speaks in front of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial, speaks with Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, right, as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, second left, and Warsaw Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz listen, during the revolt anniversary ceremonies in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 19, 2013. Sirens wailed and church bells tolled in Warsaw as largely Roman Catholic Poland paid homage Friday to the Jewish fighters who rose u— AP

Simha Rotem, left, one of the last living Warsaw Ghetto insurgents, speaks in front of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial, speaks with Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, right, as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, second left, and Warsaw Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz listen, during the revolt anniversary ceremonies in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 19, 2013. Sirens wailed and church bells tolled in Warsaw as largely Roman Catholic Poland paid homage Friday to the Jewish fighters who rose u
/ AP

Julian Rachlin, the first violinist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, plays a Bach sarabande in front of the monument to the fighters of the Warsaw ghetto uprising in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 18, 2013. The performance was part of an evening of commemorations on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1943 revolt. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)— AP

Julian Rachlin, the first violinist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, plays a Bach sarabande in front of the monument to the fighters of the Warsaw ghetto uprising in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 18, 2013. The performance was part of an evening of commemorations on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1943 revolt. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
/ AP

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, right, and Simha Rotem, one of the last living Warsaw Ghetto insurgents, walk in front of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial, during the revolt anniversary ceremonies in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 19, 2013. Sirens wailed and church bells tolled in Warsaw as largely Roman Catholic Poland paid homage Friday to the Jewish fighters who rose up 70 years ago against German Nazi forces in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)— AP

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, right, and Simha Rotem, one of the last living Warsaw Ghetto insurgents, walk in front of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial, during the revolt anniversary ceremonies in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 19, 2013. Sirens wailed and church bells tolled in Warsaw as largely Roman Catholic Poland paid homage Friday to the Jewish fighters who rose up 70 years ago against German Nazi forces in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
/ AP

Simha Rotem, left, one of the last living Warsaw Ghetto insurgents, shakes hands with President of the European Parliament Martin Schultz, during the revolt anniversary ceremonies in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 19, 2013. Sirens wailed and church bells tolled in Warsaw as largely Roman Catholic Poland paid homage Friday to the Jewish fighters who rose up 70 years ago against German Nazi forces in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)— AP

Simha Rotem, left, one of the last living Warsaw Ghetto insurgents, shakes hands with President of the European Parliament Martin Schultz, during the revolt anniversary ceremonies in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 19, 2013. Sirens wailed and church bells tolled in Warsaw as largely Roman Catholic Poland paid homage Friday to the Jewish fighters who rose up 70 years ago against German Nazi forces in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
/ AP

People listen to a short concert as Julian Rachlin, the first violinist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, plays a Bach sarabande in front of the monument to the fighters of the Warsaw ghetto uprising in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 18, 2013. The performance was part of an evening of commemorations on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1943 revolt. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)— AP

People listen to a short concert as Julian Rachlin, the first violinist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, plays a Bach sarabande in front of the monument to the fighters of the Warsaw ghetto uprising in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 18, 2013. The performance was part of an evening of commemorations on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1943 revolt. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
/ AP

Julian Rachlin, right, the first violinist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, plays a Bach sarabande in front of the monument to the fighters of the Warsaw ghetto uprising in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 18, 2013. The performance was part of an evening of commemorations on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1943 revolt. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)— AP

Julian Rachlin, right, the first violinist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, plays a Bach sarabande in front of the monument to the fighters of the Warsaw ghetto uprising in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday April 18, 2013. The performance was part of an evening of commemorations on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1943 revolt. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
/ AP

WARSAW, Poland 
Sirens wailed and church bells tolled in Warsaw as largely Roman Catholic Poland paid homage Friday to the Jewish fighters who rose up 70 years ago against German Nazi forces in the Warsaw ghetto uprising.

The mournful sounds marked the start of state ceremonies that were led by Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski at the iconic Monument to the Ghetto Heroes. The president was joined by officials from Poland, Israel and elsewhere as well as a survivor of the fighting, Simha Rotem, to honor the first large-scale rebellion against the Germans during World War II.

About 750 Jews with few arms and no military training made their opening attack on April 19, 1943, on a much larger and well-equipped German force. The attack came after most of the nearly half a million inhabitants of the ghetto had already been sent to die at Treblinka.

The insurgency came when it was clear the Nazis were about to send the remaining residents of the ghetto to die too. The revolt was crushed the following month, and the ghetto was razed to the ground, most of its residents killed.

"We knew that the end would be the same for everyone. The thought of waging an uprising was dictated by our determination. We wanted to choose the kind of death we would die," said Rotem, an 88-year-old who is among a tiny number of surviving fighters and was the key figure at the ceremony. "But to this day I have doubts as to whether we had the right to carry out the uprising and shorten the lives of people by a day, a week, or two weeks. No one gave us that right and I have to live with my doubts."

Rotem's uncertainty is in stark contrast to how the world remembers the revolt. Though a clear military defeat, it is hailed as a moral victory for the Jewish fighters, who refused to go without a fight to the gas chambers. It is prominently commemorated in Israel, part of a never-again ethos that stresses the importance of self-defense.

"The Nazi Germans made a hell on earth of the ghetto," Komorowski said in a speech. "Persecuting the Jews appealed to the lowest of human instincts."

During the ceremonies, Komorowski bestowed one of the country's highest honors on Rotem - the Grand Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland. Later the two of them, along with Israeli Education Minister Shai Piron and Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, a Polish Auschwitz survivor who helped rescue Jews during the war, walked side-by-side to the monument and bowed before it as soldiers laid a wreath for them.

To a military drum, other dignitaries followed them in paying their respects at the dark memorial to suffering and struggle, including Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, members of Poland's Jewish community and U.S. Ambassador Stephen Mull along with an American survivor of the Warsaw ghetto, Estelle Laughlin.

Poland's chief rabbi and a cantor also recited mournful Hebrew prayers as they were joined by three Polish army chaplains, one Catholic, one Eastern Orthodox and one Protestant. Psalm 130, which starts, "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! ..." was recited in Hebrew and Polish.